Delight. Relish. Enjoy.

Some things that make me happy right now are:

- Being fully moved in, unpacked, organized, and settled into our new apartment. We got everything done in one day - literally. Pictures hung up even. A big thanks goes to Braedon's sister for staying with us from Noon till Ten helping us out and keeping us motivated to get it all done. 

- Spell Check. Because I spell motivated wrong every single time I type it.

- The Game Dominion and friends to play it with. Thanks for coming over last night Ali and Morrison!

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- My Kobo (eReader) and the ability I have to have hundreds of books at my fingertips. Wonderful.

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- The fact that it's Friday. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't it awesome that every week we get a Friday? I think it's pretty cool.

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- Ingrid Michaelson. I just love her music so much. Wonderful, wonderful. Especially the song 'Keep Breathing'. Mmmmm,

- Braedon. When is he not making me happy? Especially when he sends me texts like this:

"Psst... guess what?

I love you!!!!"

My Fedora Collection also makes me happy. :)

- My new Earring/Gauges that aren't made of rubber like my last ones so they don't make my ears freak out and rash. :)

They're swirly!

- Life in general. You know... I've heard somewhere that it's to be enjoyed. I try to follow that advice. :)

And I hope you try to follow that advice as well. :)

Happy Friday internet.

Loves and hugs - spread it around. :)

Gauges and the Blue Boutique

I bet most of you can't guess what I did yesterday.

No. Nope. Wrong again. Negative. Guess again. Okay fine, I'll just tell you.

I gauged my ears.

Now now. Before you get too upset (kinda like my mom did when I told her), let me explain.

My ears are retarded. Seriously.

I got my ears pierced at the ripe old age of 8. I remember being so excited about my new little holes in my ears - I even remember getting a lot of cheep-o I mean cute earrings for my birthday from all my other fellow 8 year olds. Well as time went by, putting in my new earrings became a problem... I had a hard time getting anything in my new piercings that I eventually gave up and stopped wearing earrings all together.

We then jump to 18 year old Katie. 18 year old Katie wanted to try wearing earrings again - maybe something got screwed up when she was 8? Or maybe she was just a dumb 8 year old that didn't know how to put earrings in? So I went and got my ears re-pierced - right in the same place as the old piercings. Well some time past by and I ran into the same problem that I had when I was 8 - I would go 2 maybe 3 days with out wearing a pair of earrings and they would be completely closed. Having spent more money on earrings then when I was 8 I wasn't ready to give up so easily - I would re-poke the holes over and over again, causeing much frustration and blood in the bathroom. I would try keeping earrings in for 2 weeks at a time and still if I went one day with no earrings the next day was another episode of poking and frustration.

Eventually (about a year ago) I gave up again. I would still have random moments when I really wanted to wear earrings (i.e. my wedding) and I would go through the process of re-poking holes, but by the end of the day my ears would be so sore that I'd take them out and not try again for another 3 weeks or so.

Well this past week in the process of moving and seeing all the cute earrings I've collected over the years - some that I haven't even tried to wear... I thought again, I really want to make my ears work. Then enters co-worker with recently gauged ears (hi Grace!) - she just went up a size from the regular ear piercing to start the processes for her future bigger holes. After talking to her about my problem I concluded that maybe I would try stretching my holes out a bit and then they wouldn't close so easy (or at all, please?).

So yesterday Braedon and I moseyed over to our local Blue Boutique (recommended by said Co-Worker) to look into gauging my ears (and also to pick up some fun items for the wonderful Stanfields that got married that day - Hi Ben and Kelci!).

As we started to explain my story and situation to the Piercing guy (piercing Artist?) he had this "Ya ya, whatever, I'm sure it's not that bad - I'll be able to get earrings in those ears - CAKE" look. He then asked to see my ears, I pulled back my hair and he gave them a look and felt around the lobe for the hole - this is when his "Ya ya, whatever, I'm sure it's not that bad - I'll be able to get earrings in those ears - CAKE" look turned into a "uhhh... what the heck is wrong with yours ears - I can't believe what I'm seeing/feeling" look. He then said that he believed that gauging them would help with the problem and that we could try to stretch them out, but he wasn't sure if he would be able to do it so we might need to pierce them.

Now - anytime I hear the word 'Pierce' in the same sentence with the word 'Gauge' I get this picture of a giant hole punch for human flesh - which is something I never want close to me. So I told him, let's just try to stretch them.

So I get in the special chair - we had decided that we would go to a 14 (normal piercings are a 18, so just two sizes up). He procedures to caution that it will be a series of pinches and pressure and that he can go as slow or as fast as I feel comfortable with. I get a little nervous, but then remember I've gone through multiple kidney stones before and it can't even come close to that bad.

He then starts to massage my ear lobe and puts some type of cleaning goop on it as he confirms that face I saw him pull while he looked at my ears earlier. He has never seen ears like mine before - not in his 12 years of piercing and gauging. He has had people come in that haven't worn earrings for 30 years and he knew it would be no problem to get earrings back in them - but my wonderful ears he was worried about. Awesome. Apparently they were closed - but did't have any scar tissue, which I suppose is unusual? But he continued to say that he always likes a challenge, and it looks like I would be the greatest challenge he's ever had. Again. Awesome.

Side Note: What the freak is wrong with my ears? I would like to say that I have super healing powers... but the rest of my body doesn't seem to follow that suit.

So he starts the process - not near as bad as I thought it would be. It was painful, and there was plenty of 'pinching and pressure', but nothing horrible. We get the right ear completed and he looks pretty pleased with himself and says "that wasn't quite as bad as I thought it might be". So we start with the left ear - which I'm shortly informed is worse then the right ear.

At this point an image of me with lopsided holes in my ears popped into my head as he tries to get his little tool through my ear.

But with much coaxing and pushing and massaging he was able to stretch out the left ear and get the plug in. (Yay for matching holes in my ears).

Honestly all in all it wasn't a bad experience. The piercing guy was really calm and very gentle and since he had about 7 gauges in his ears, I felt pretty comfortable in his hands.

Now I know some of you may still need some mollifying - I know when I hear the word 'gauge' I think of this:

Source

So to sooth any worries I have taken a couple of shots via my crappy cell phone camera. Observe:

See. Little.

The hole is as big as the metal part, not the clear plastic part. Nothing too crazy big.

So we'll see if this works and makes it so I'm able to wear normal earrings with out so much distress.

If not - I'm giving up the whole institution of wearing earrings forever.

Christmas Is Coming

I don't know if any of you knew this, but....

Christmas is on Saturday.

:)

So. Excited.

Bite the Bullet*

So this post probably wont have a ton to do with Christmas - but I'm sure I'm bound to mention some things that pertain to the special holiday. :)

Recap Bullet List Style.

- We went to the Eclipse Christmas Concert. Everything I wanted it to be. And now I'm even more excited for Christmas.

- We had one of Braedon's family Christmas parties this past week. They do the whole 5 dollar white elephant gift exchange (that seems almost a staple of Christmas now...). One of our gifts was two pair of pink and purple thongs, some candy, and a mug that happens to be in the shape of a certain female body part (in the chest area), that has a perfectly placed hole for one to drink out of. This gift happened to be picked by a newly engaged couple. Perfect. :)

- Braedon's Uncle is having some major complications - kidney's failing, something weird with the legs that needed surgery so that the muscles wouldn't die. It all came suddenly and seemingly out of no-where. Braedon and his Grandpa went and gave him a blessing on Sunday and I was reminded once again of how wonderful it is to have a Priesthood holder in my home. Please send any extra prayers or good thoughts to Braedon's Uncle and his family, they are going to need it.

- Also on Saturday we went to a book signing of my favorite author, Brandon Sanderson. He did a Reading and a Q&A before the signing... I was too chicken to ask my question, but my brother Taylor asked it for me and it made me feel special. I feel so nerdy going to a book signing and asking questions - but secretly I love it. And honestly, he really is the coolest nerd I've ever met.

- Lately on Facebook - I've been a hiding fiend. Apparently I'm too lazy to actually delete people from my friend list, so I've resorted to just hiding them. It feels rather refreshing.

- I've really been missing dance lately (the pretty Ballet clip Kelci just showed me on youtube didn't help very much).  Braedon's work does this program where they pay for half your membership to Golds Gym, and you don't have to sign any kind of contract. We are talking about maybe signing up - and I'm not gonna lie, the main reason why I want to sign up is for the free classes... Maybe they will have a dance one? I honestly just need to get into dancing again. I misseth it. Anyone know of a place that has adult classes - for the not so advance. :)

*Did you notice the play on words!? Bullet... and I did a blog post with Bullet points! I'm so clever**.
**Don't look up the word clever in the dictionary... just trust me on this one.

Inside Out

So once upon a time I was blog stalking the wonderful Kelly onceBrownbutnow White (and her Husband's) blog. She was making some fun Christmas Decorations that she had seen from this blog.

Having been directed to the ColorMeKatie blog I soon became addicted. I loved seeing all the vibrate color in her life, all the creative things she comes up with, and her positive fun loving attitude. 

I was inspired.

I decided that I wanted to bring more color and creativity to my life, play more, and to be more positive. I especially loved the blog she wrote about her favorite coat she happened to ruin. She turned something that could have been really sad and frustrating into something fun and better! 

I loved this idea so much that I told Braedon about it (I probably told him a lot more about this blog then he wanted to hear, to be honest) and my inspiration to play more and be more positive.

Now we jump to a few days ago. Me and Braedon bought are very first Christmas Tree and put it up the day after Thanksgiving. We loved it - it was so pretty! Observe:

Sorry for the Crappy Photo - I only got a picture on my phone. Kinda sad.

Well last week we noticed that four of the branches on our Christmas Tree had gone out - apparently the whole strand of lights was bad. So we called the store that we got the tree from and they said that we could return it for full credit back. So Braedon took down all the decorations and packed up the tree. We returned it on Saturday, only to find out that all of the stores were out of this particular tree. We considered buying a different tree, but all the ones that were left were very crappy looking, and we didn't want to waste money on a tree we didn't like or on a tree we didn't feel we would want to use again next year.

So we decided to think on it and search around to see if we could find a decent tree so late in the season - if not, I had a tiny little tree that I bought when I was young that we could use for the remaining week. 

Well apparently this idea didn't sit well with Braedon. He knew that I really wanted a tree for Christmas - especially since it's our first Christmas as a family. So he kept thinking and thinking of a way to make this work when he remembered the blog that I had shown him - especially the story about the ruined coat.

And he came up with an idea.

Since, as I said in a previous post, we are moving on January 8th - we've been accumulating a lot of boxes to pack stuff in. Braedon decided that instead of getting a lame crappy tree that we wouldn't really want and would also have to find a place to store, that we would instead make our own tree - out of wrapped boxes. So we went and bough some more wrapping paper and a couple of ginormous bulbs and went to work. We wrapped up all our packing boxes and put them together with my little tree on top. I love how it turned out! Observe again:

Lighted Ribbon - Something we bought last year for like 2 bucks and didn't
even realize it wasn't regular ribbon. Bonus!

It looks even prettier and cooler in person. :)

We love it so much it might just become a tradition... we'll see how we feel next year. But I'm so glad that Braedon found a way to turn our sad tree story inside out and make it into something fun!

I'm so excited for Christmas. :)

  

12 Days of Christmas

So this morning, as Braedon was bellowing out the "12 Days of Christmas Song" while in the shower, it got me thinking - where did this song come come from and why the weird gifts?

So I decided to do some research, and found some interesting stuff.

Interesting Fact #1 - "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is an English Christmas carol. Although first published in England in 1780, textual evidence may indicate the song is French in origin. (source)

(That is a very old song!)

Interesting Fact #2 - Contrary to much popular belief, these are not the twelve days beforeChristmas, but in most of the Western Church are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany. (The 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th, with Epiphany on January 6th). (source)

(Does that mean I can keep singing Christmas songs until January 5th?)

Interesting Fact #3 - There is actual meaning to the gifts:

On the 1st day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

A Partridge in a Pear Tree
The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, whose birthday we celebrate on December 25, the first day of Christmas. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge that feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, recalling the expression of Christ's sadness over the fate of Jerusalem: "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered you under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but you would not have it so . . . ." (Luke 13:34)

On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Two Turtle Doves
The Old and New Testaments, which together bear witness of God.

On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Three French Hens
The Three Theological Virtues: 1) Faith, 2) Hope, and 3) Love (1 Corinthians 13:13)

On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Four Calling Birds
The Four Gospels: 1) Matthew, 2) Mark, 3) Luke, and 4) John, which proclaim the Good News of God's reconciliation of the world and of Jesus Christ.

On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Five Gold Rings
The first Five Books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch: 1) Genesis, 2) Exodus, 3) Leviticus, 4) Numbers, and 5) Deuteronomy, which gives the history of humanity's sinful failure and God's response of grace in the creation of a people to be a light to the world.

On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Six Geese A-laying
The six days of creation that confesses God as Creator and Sustainer of the world (Genesis 1).

On the 7th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Seven Swans A-swimming
The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: 1) prophecy, 2) ministry, 3) teaching, 4) exhortation, 5) giving, 6) leading, and 7) compassion (Romans 12:6-8; cf. 1 Corinthians 12:8-11)

On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Eight Maids A-milking
The eight Beatitudes: 1) Blessed are the poor in spirit, 2) those who mourn, 3) the meek, 4) those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 5) the merciful, 6) the pure in heart, 7) the peacemakers, 8) those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. (Matthew 5:3-10)

On the 9th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Nine Ladies Dancing
The nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit: 1) love, 2) joy, 3) peace, 4) patience, 5) kindness,
6) generosity, 7) faithfulness, 8) gentleness, and 9) self-control. (Galatians 5:22)

On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Ten Lords A-leaping
The ten commandments: 1) You shall have no other gods before me; 2) Do not make an idol; 3) Do not take God's name in vain; 4) Remember the Sabbath Day; 5) Honor your father and mother; 6) Do not murder; 7) Do not commit adultery; 8) Do not steal; 9) Do not bear false witness; 10) Do not covet. (Exodus 20:1-17)

On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Eleven Pipers Piping
The eleven Faithful Apostles: 1) Simon Peter, 2) Andrew, 3) James, 4) John, 5) Philip, 6) Bartholomew, 7) Matthew, 8) Thomas, 9) James bar Alphaeus, 10) Simon the Zealot, 11) Judas bar James. (Luke 6:14-16). The list does not include the twelfth disciple, Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus to the religious leaders and the Romans.

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Twelve Drummers Drumming
The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostles' Creed: 1) I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. 2) I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. 3) He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. 4) He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell [the grave]. 5) On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 6) He will come again to judge the living and the dead. 7) I believe in the Holy Spirit, 8) the holy catholic Church, 9) the communion of saints, 10) the forgiveness of sins, 11) the resurrection of the body, 12) and life everlasting.

(Source)

I honestly never knew there was any great meaning to this song and always thought it a rather silly and annoying song. Now I know that there is some pretty deep meaning to it. 

Crazy what the internet can teach ya, huh?*

*Why do I not use the internet more often when I have thoughts like "I wonder what the history of that is?" or "I have no idea what they are talking about..."? I love learning new things about Christmas that I never knew! :)


  
  

Nature's Candy

Today I am grateful for pomegranate seeds - another thing that always reminds me of Christmas. Plus it's like candy to me and I don't even have to take points off for eating it! :)

Mmmmm so good.

(source)

I'm also grateful for my awesome boss-friend*.

*I was in no way forced to post this - but I figure, brownie points are always nice. Plus now I don't have to listen to complaints of not mentioning my awesome boss in one of my blog posts**. ;)

** Just kidding Spencer.

Memories and Traditions

So I realized that when I did my 'Traditions' post that I forgot to mention one of my most favorite traditions that Braedon and I have that started from our dating years - going to the Eclipse Christmas Concert.

We've gone the past three years (with a 2 year break while Braedon was gone, of course) and to me, seeing this concert really means that Christmas is close. I've talked about Eclipse before but I honestly just love them - and seeing them live is always so fun. You can feel their spirit, joy and love for Christmas as they sing their songs.

My favorite was the year before Braedon left on his mission we came out of the concert and I was already on my Christmas high when we took our first step outside the building. Apparently it had snowed while we were at the concert because there was a good 6-8 inches already on the ground. The flakes were big, white and fluffy, and the sky was so dark in contrast. It was a perfect moment and a wonderful reminder of why I love snow so much. It's so silent, soft, and magical.

Me and Braedon already have our tickets for Friday and I am so excited to go. If you want a good Christmas CD - go get theirs. And if you want a good Christmas Concert to go to - I would highly recommend this one. :)

Have I mentioned that I love Christmas?

Cause I do.

:)

News Flash

Sorry for the lack of post on Friday - I was distracted by food poising and completely forgot.

This post is brought to you by news in the life of Katie.

- I took the GRE on Saturday. I didn't do as well as I feel that I could have (stupid computer based test not letting me go back to questions and making me loose track of time). But I still did pretty good - at least I believe it's good enough to get accepted to the U or Y, so I'm happy. :)

- I found out that the word Noel is simply another word for Christmas. Why did it take me 22 years to think "I have no idea what 'Noel' is"? (This is my way of making this post somehow Christmas related).

- This past Friday was Braedon's grandparents 50th anniversary. They were nicely surprised with a church full of people and a reception that they never really got. Braedon and I worked on the video that was presented at the reception - containing footage of Rod (Braedon's grandpa) picking up Jeanne (Braedon's grandma) for prom, and dancing in the entry way (so freaking cute), as well as actual footage from their wedding. Both of them had no knowledge that such footage existed. Needless to say, it was a wonderful night and the long hours working on the film was totally worth it. They are proof to me that with hard work, communication, and understanding you can grow closer and closer together then ever thought possible. So cute.

- Me and Braedon are moving on January 8th. My lovely Aunt and Uncle Landlords have sold their house. But luckily we have another side apartment (like a basement apartment, but on the side?) of a lovely great aunt to go to. We feel really good about this new place - not so good about having to move all our junk again, but good all the same. :)

We'll leave it at that for now.

Loves and hugs all!

Traditions

One of my favorite things about Christmas is all the traditions that come with it. So today I am going to share with you some of my favorite traditions! :)

-Putting up Decorations the Day After Thanksgiving. This is something my mom started that I am going to keep going. I love putting up the decorations the day after Thanksgiving. Something simple, but I loved spending time with my mom, listening to Christmas music, putting up decorations. It's something I hope that my children will cherish one day. :)

-Christmas parties. I love getting together with family, having fun, being happy, eating good food, exchanging lame-o 5 dollar gifts, exchanging non lame-o more then 5 dollar gifts. It's always nice to see family!

-Watching Muppet Christmas Carol. I love this movie so much. I love Muppet's so much. This movie brings back my childhood like no other movie. I used to watch this even when it wasn't Christmas. It's comforting, and I love singing a long with all the Muppet's. Also, it's got a good moral, so that's always a bonus.

-Singing. This comes in different ways, at parties, in the car, carols, with family, in church. Whatever form, I love singing Christmas songs. The more traditional songs are my favorite - O'Holy Night, Silent Night, Away in a Manger, etc. Something about singing makes me feel closer to Christ. :)

-Lights/Hot Chocolate. This is probably the only time I really love going down town (I have decided that I am so not a city girl) I love going with friends, walking around Temple Square, looking at the lights, with a cup of 7-11 Hot Chocolate in my gloved hands. I really love twinkle lights, I think they are magical. :)

-New Traditions. Traditions have to start somewhere, and I'm excited to be starting new traditions with my Braedon. We've decided that every year we want to get some type of decoration that has to deal with the Nativity scene - to help us remember what Christmas is all about. This year with money being a little tight, we didn't actually get a Nativity set, but we got an ornament with the Nativity Scene painted on it. We love it. :) I'm excited to see what decorations we will get in the upcoming years.

I'm also excited to see what traditions we will start for our family as it grows (no this is not an announcement).

Hope you all are enjoying your traditions! :)